Our Mysterious God

Even though we live in a Postmodern Age, we are, nonetheless, children of The Enlightenment. We have inalienable rights, you know, like “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” We like our questions answered. Anything that can be scientifically verified – well, so much the better. We like mysteries – as long as they can be solved, or if there is expectation of a sequel. Mysteries that can’t be solved? Those kinds of mysteries tend to make us uncomfortable.

Our discomfort with the unknown may be the reason we feel such a compulsion to understand everything there is to know about God. It may be at least a partial explanation as to why so many “open-minded” men and women cannot get their minds around the discrepancy found in a good God allowing, or – logically and ultimately – causing, bad things to happen. When tragedy befalls a good person, it is even more alarming, and an explanation is demanded.

Rather than give an apologetic response to a theodicy (theological jargon for “God good, bad things happen”), let me simply ask – would you really want a God about Whom you can know everything? Since evil is a reality, would you want a God Who is unable to prevent catastrophes from occurring? NO! Or, maybe, sort of, sometimes.

Some things are absolutely unexplainable. God does not have to give account of Himself when things go awry. There is much that we can know about God, but there is much we will never know about God in this life. Ezekiel got a glimpse of God and described what he saw in the first chapter of the book that bears his name. Well, I suppose you could call it a description. It is quite fuzzy. The Apostle John had a similar experience that he described in Revelation 4. His description was very much like Ezekiel’s attempt. God is mysterious. Fortunately, the fuzziness clears in Revelation 5 when the Lion of the tribe of Judah appears as a Lamb that had been slain, but now reigns in power and glory.

Deuteronomy 29:29 reads, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” On which part of that verse do you usually focus? Most of us probably prefer to focus on the latter part of the verse because we want to know as much as we are allowed to know. That is a noble desire, indeed! Our challenge comes when there are no answers for the big questions of life, and especially when we happen to be right in the middle of one of those big question issues, such as when a personal tragedy befalls us.

“WHY?” That is the ultimate question, isn’t it? Why does God allow pain to envelope those who love Him so much? In our hearts we know that such a reversal is not borne of cruel intention, but, why?

The appropriate response for such a place is: trust. Remember, there are mysteries that cannot be known at this time. One day we will know as we are known (1 Corinthians 13:12). Until then, we must allow God to be God. When we are willing to do so, we begin to realize how much bigger He is than we are able to comprehend, and all of a sudden, mystery is not such a bad thing!

To accept God’s sovereignty and to acknowledge that He is mysterious does not mean that we should become content with just enough knowledge to function effectively as a Christ-follower. The best way to contemplate God’s mysteriousness is to think deeply about the things we do know (found in Scripture) about God. Do not be in such a hurry when you read and/or study God’s Word. When we are in a hurry, we may get the surface truth that God intends for us, but we may miss the richness of our sovereign God in our haste. As we meditate on what we do know, we become aware of a God Who is so much bigger than we are.

So, while the bulk of this article has been an encouragement to believe those things that you do understand, and to accept and trust those things that you do not understand, I want to close by letting you know that when you pass these first two steps, a world of wonder and amazement awaits as you contemplate our wonderful, powerful, loving, mysterious God.